The cabinet or whatever it was moved a few inches, then hit something again and stopped. It still blocked the opening. Now that its scraping noise had announced our presence, speed was even more important. I pushed harder. It moved again, skipping and scraping louder than before. After sliding about a foot, it jammed again.
I got down on my knees, leaned into the opening, and hit it with my shoulder, forcing it into the room with yet more noise.
When the opening was large enough, I ducked through the low door. Spot followed.
“Let’s hurry,” I whispered as before.
The kitchen was black as a cave. I flipped on my flashlight and let go of Spot. The stairway was to the left, at the end of the room. I ran toward it. Spot immediately understood my destination, and he ran past me and up the stairs. I heard the others behind me.
At the top of the stairs, I shined my light. The steps to the third floor were to the right. To the other side was the hallway that led to the second floor rooms. I stopped and held my hand out behind me, signalling the others to stop. I turned, put my finger to my lips, and waited, listening.
If the kidnapper had Jonni on the second floor, he would have multiple escape routes, and we’d lose them by running up to the third. But if they were on the third floor, we could catch them.
I heard a scuffling sound. I turned my head, trying to discern the direction. Spot looked up the stairs toward the third floor. That was a solid indication.
“I’ll stay on this floor,” Diamond said. “You go up.”
“Will do,” I whispered. I touched Spot on his back.
He trotted up the stairs. Brie pushed past me and ran up the steps. I was behind, and I heard Vince charge up after me.
We got to the top. I found a light switch and turned it on. Dim light lit up the long hallway. I could see at least four doors, bedrooms for the servants 100 years ago.
Brie ran halfway down the hall. “Jonni? Jonni! Are you here? Jonni!”
Spot was down at the last door, sniffing its edges.
The door opened a crack.
“Jonni?” Brie said. “Is that you?”
“Brie!” Jonni pushed out the door and ran to Brie, hugging her hard. “I was so scared!”
“Jonni,” I said, “where’s the kidnapper?”
“He left me in the room. He said he had to check on something. He said if I left the room, he’d kill me.”
“Oh, Jonni, you’re safe now!” Brie kneeled down, her head just a little lower than Jonni’s, and wrapped her arms around Jonni. “I’m never going to let you go.”
Vince and I were still standing at the top of the stairs.
“Jon!” Vince called down the hallway. “I’m here, too. I’m so glad you’re okay, boy!”
“She, Vince,” Brie said. “Jonni is a she.” Brie had a tension in her voice that sounded like anger.
“Think what you want. But he’s my boy.”
“No, dad,” Jonni called out. “I’m not your boy. I’m your girl. Your daughter.”
“Jon, now is not the time for this discussion. Let’s get out of here before the kidnapper comes back.”
“Maybe this is the time to have this talk,” Brie said in a tone that suggested she was finding her nerve.
“What does that mean, Brie? And what business is it of yours? Do you even care how I feel? Jon, how do you think your mother would feel if she were here? Come to me, Jon.”
Jonni stayed next to Brie. “Dad,” Jonni said. “You always think whatever - you know - whatever fits your picture.”
“You’re not making sense, Jon.”
“You have this view of the world,” Jonni said. “Everything has to fit your view. Otherwise you push it away. You reject it. Like me, dad. You reject me. You never once wanted to really know how I felt. Mom didn’t, either. You always talked about how mom wasn’t there for me, how she didn’t care. Well, you weren’t that much different.”
“But I only wanted what I thought was best for you. And Victoria, despite all of her absences, she only wanted what is best for you, too. She’s still your mother. Even a flawed mother still knows what’s best for her child.”
“Really, Vince?” Brie said. “What if I told you Victoria never was pregnant? That she never gave birth? That she went to a fertility doctor to conceive Jonni from her egg and your sperm? What if she was so vain and distracted she hired a surrogate mother to carry the pregnancy and give birth to your child without telling you?”
“That’s nonsense, Brie. You’re talking craziness.”
“No, it’s not, Vince. Because I was that surrogate mother. I gave birth to your daughter Jonni. When Victoria went away, it was to hide that surrogate pregnancy. Victoria came to see me just a few times during the entire nine months. I knew from the beginning that Victoria never really wanted a kid. She never wanted pregnancy. She even looked at me at seven months into the pregnancy and said she could never stand to be so fat. She just paid me and the doctors the money and looked the other way. And after I gave birth and she took Jonni, I found out she left you both, giving you the burden of raising a child by yourself. Even though I was supposed to stay away and never tell anyone about it, I started trying to figure out how I could get into your life, how I could have some kind of relationship with the child I understood better than anyone. ”
Vince leaned his palms against the wall and then bent his elbows so that his head bumped against the wood. He stared down at the floor. Maybe he was astounded. Or maybe he was just stunned from recognizing what he already knew at some deep level.
Diamond had come up the stairs behind me.
“Jonni isn’t from my genes,” Brie said. “But she’s my child as much as anybody’s. I carried her and gave birth to her. I nursed her in the beginning. I’m the only one who has recognized she’s a girl at heart. Ask her, Vince. Ask her if anyone knows her as well as I do.”
Vince lifted his head and looked down the hall at Brie and Jonni, who had their arms wrapped around each other. His face was wet with tears. He opened his mouth to speak. But no words came out.
“What makes a parent, Vince?” Brie asked. “Is it DNA? Or is it involvement and caring and belief and support and constancy? When Victoria was mostly gone, I was there. When you had your events and incidents, as you called them, episodes that took you away, I was there. When you doubted Jonni’s feelings and wishes, I was there for her.”
Vince rotated and leaned back against the wall. He slowly slid down until he hit the floor, his legs and knees up close to his chest. He held his head in his hands and leaned his face down on top of his knees. His sobs began low and slow, and then they grew until he was gasping for breath and choking. The big man looked small and helpless.
“I’m so sorry, Jon!” he called out, his words almost unintelligible. He tried to suck air but it was as if he were under water. “No, I’m wrong. It’s Jonni. I know that now. It’s Jonni. I’m so sorry, Jonni!” Vince’s speech was the rage of pain and distress from someone who felt worthless. Vince shouted with a torn, ragged voice, “I’m so, so sorry!”
He lifted his face up off his knees and looked down the dim hallway. His eyes and face were red and swollen. His face was soaked.
Jonni pulled away from Brie and took a tentative step forward. She stopped and looked at Vince. She turned back and looked at Brie. Brie nodded.
Jonni ran toward us. I held Spot. Jonni hesitated near Spot as if judging whether or not he was safe. Then she kneeled down in front of Vince, and he took her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they cried together.
After a long time with no words spoken, Jonni stood up and turned to me. “You are the man who made this happen, right? You helped my dad and Brie find me. Thank you.” She gave me a hug. She was a small person, and her head only reached up to my elbow. But she let her face nestle in the crook of my elbow, and I’d never before felt such warmth from the appreciation of a child.
Spot made a soft, warning growl. He turned and looked behind us, toward the stairs. Diamond and I turned.
A man jabbed a rifle into the hollow at the base of my throat.